The present invention relates to a shifting-operation detection unit, and more particularly relates to a shifting-operation detection unit that detects a shift-up operation and a shift-down operation of a dog transmission in a saddle-ride type vehicle.
In recent years, a dog clutch transmission of a constant mesh type has been adopted as a transmission of a saddle-ride type vehicle such as a motorcycle. This type of transmission has an input shaft that transmits a drive force of an internal combustion via a main clutch and an output shaft that outputs a drive force shifted by the transmission. Gears provided on the input shaft and gears provided on the output shaft rotate while being constantly meshed with each other, and shift gears that horizontally slide on the input shaft and shift gears that horizontally slide on the output shaft are respectively moved by an operation of a shift pedal, so that the shift gears and free gears that are adjacent to the shift gears on the shafts and that idle with respect to the shafts are engaged by dog clutches to transmit power.
Such a transmission adopts a method to detect a shift-up operation and a shift-down operation using a load cell sensor such as a strain gauge. However, because the load cell sensor is expensive and not suitable for mass production, the load cell sensor is exclusively used for saddle-ride type vehicles for racing.
There is another method by which an operation of the shift pedal is detected using switches that function when the shift pedal is operated. Because these switches are not expensive and suitable for mass production, they are used as genuine parts of the saddle-ride type vehicles.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2010-120569 discloses a control system that detects an operation of a shift pedal using switches and that controls an output of an engine by an ECU (Engine Control Unit) according to a result of the detection to perform shift-up or shift-down in a saddle-ride type vehicle without using a main clutch.
More specifically, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2010-120569 discloses the saddle-ride type vehicle that enables an operation of the shift pedal without using the main clutch, with a configuration including a movable member that moves in a shift-up direction, an urging member that is urged in the opposite direction to the shift-up direction, and a first displacement detection switch that detects that the movable member has moved more than a predetermined distance in the shift-up direction against a load applied in the shift-up direction, and also including a movable member that moves in a shift-down direction, an urging member that is urged in the opposite direction to the shift-down direction, and a second displacement detection switch that detects that the movable member has moved more than a predetermined distance in the shift-down direction against a load applied to the shift-down direction.